Major global crypto exchanges accelerate push into non-trading businesses

Major global cryptocurrency exchanges are aggressively expanding non-trading businesses to offset earnings volatility tied to lower trading volumes. At Coinbase, the gap between trading revenue and non-trading revenue narrowed sharply to about $44 million from roughly $132 million a year earlier. Coinbase expanded its product lineup into areas including stablecoins and prediction markets, while average USDC holdings in the third quarter rose 44% year over year to $20 billion. Gemini has tripled prediction-market maker metrics since early this year and introduced rebate and rewards programs. Even so, second-quarter trading volume and trading revenue fell 66% and 38%, respectively, from a year earlier, totaling $3.8 billion. Bullish is also running a rewards program aimed at driving trading activity. Its adjusted trading revenue in the second quarter fell 21% from the previous quarter to $29.9 million, although it remained up 24% from a year earlier.